An analysis of information technology relationships in the Korean educational administrative organization

DISSERTATION

Abstract

In general, the critical issues all organizations face as they struggle to enter the twenty-first century are embedded in the current trend of reengineering and restructuring of organization. This study was the outgrowth of an ongoing interest in the relationship between technology and organization. It is safe to say that in today's organizations, this information technology (IT) will change the forms and functions of these relationships. Because of its heavy investment in IT in the 1980's, the Ministry of Education (MOE) in the Republic of Korea appeared to be an ideal setting to attempt to answer the questions posed by the introduction of IT.

After a review of the literature, the three research questions were operationally posed: What IT do mid-level officials in the Korean educational agencies utilize? In what ways has the utilization of IT influenced mid-level official's perceptions of the structural dimensions of the organization? What aspects of work in the organization are influenced by the utilization of IT? The multiple regression analysis was chosen as the most appropriate way to answer them. Because the relationships are complex and subtle, it was decided include all mid-level officials (Directors and Deputy-Directors) from the MOE and the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) in order to insure a sample large enough to test the assumptions made at two levels of analysis.

Taken together, the results of the study showed that the typical mid-level official is a man with either a bachelor's or master's degree who is over 35 years of age and most likely to use a stand-alone personal computer for word processing software and personnel management and financial accounting application program. His perceptions are that IT has changed the structure of his organization by increasing the dimensions of centralization, decentralization, and formalization while not adding to the dimension of complexity. He also perceives IT as having enriched his position and added to all levels of effectiveness while not changing his level of position satisfaction.

Citation

Kho, Y. An analysis of information technology relationships in the Korean educational administrative organization. Doctor of Philosophy thesis, The University of Iowa. Retrieved March 21, 2019 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/116238/.